THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 2015/2283 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on novel foods, amending Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EC) No 258/97 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1852/2001, and in particular Article 15(4) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 provides that only novel foods authorised and included in the Union list may be placed on the market within the Union. Traditional food from a third country is a novel food defined in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283.
(2)
Pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470 establishing a Union list of authorised novel foods was adopted.
(3)
Pursuant to Article 15(4) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, the Commission is to decide on the authorisation and on the placing on the Union market of a traditional food from a third country.
(4)
On 23 January 2018, the company Obà Food Srl. (‘the applicant’) submitted a notification to the Commission of the intention to place decorticated grains of Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf (‘Fonio’) on the Union market as a traditional food from a third country within the meaning of Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. The applicant requests for decorticated grains of Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf to be consumed as such or as a food ingredient by the general population.
(5)
The documented data, presented by the applicant, demonstrate that decorticated grains of Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf have a history of safe food use in West African countries, in particular Guinea, Nigeria and Mali.
(6)
Pursuant to Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, on 28 February 2018, the Commission forwarded the valid notification to the Member States and to the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’).
(7)
No duly reasoned safety objections to the placing on the market within the Union of decorticated grains of Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf were submitted to the Commission by Member States or the Authority within the four-month period laid down in Article 15(2) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283.
(8)
The Commission should therefore authorise the placing on the market within the Union of decorticated grains of Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf and update the Union list of novel foods.
(9)
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470 should therefore be amended accordingly,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: